Hi,

I have an old Canon Ftb QL which I've just started to use again. Everything seems to be working ok, but I noticed a couple of "specks" when viewing through the viewfinder.

I removed the lens, and that appeared to be clear, and I looked through the viewfinder with the lens off the body, and I can still see the same specks.

I've tried cleaning off the mirror (inside the body), but that didn't do anything either.

Looking back up into the body, I can see the focusing screen, and at least the outside side seems to be clean, so I'm guessing that whatever is causing these specks is inside there somewhere.

Question: Is there any way for me to get in there to clean it out? Or do I need to take it to a camera repair shop?

Thanks!

Jim

-- Jim Lum (jimlum@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001

Answers

Jim, the specs you see are probably due to the deterioration of the light trapping foam that the mirror comes up against at the high point of its travel. Remember: This does not affect the quality of your pictures, since it's part of the viewfinder system. Do not fool with the mirror itself, because the silver coating is quite fragile. Your best bet would be to use a blower to try and remove the specs from the under surface of the focusing screen. But if the foam is falling apart you'll keep getting more specs until you have the camera professionally cleaned. The FTb's a good camera, take good care of it.

Dan

-- Dan Carey (danimal_57@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.

The specs won't hurt anything.

Watch cleaning the mirror, the mirror surface is on the front, menaing you are cleaning the actual thin metal coating, not the glass. And messing up the mirror can mess up the metering. The meter is in the prism area and is measuring the light reflected by the mirror.

Just don't worry about them.

Do check the foam mirror stop. If it is deteriorating or getting soft, definately replace it. It is not a hard do it yourself job. Just be careful, use lighter fluid and a Q-tip to clean the area after scraping the excess off with a small screwdriver or knifeblade.

Replacement foam can be purchased from Fargo Enterprises (www.micro-tools.com).

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), January 10, 2001.

What are the chances....? Hope I haven't made a mistake by cleaning the mirror on my AE1P recently. Gently using a tiny drop of lens cleaning fluid and cleaning cloth it seemed to have cleaned up nicely, it really sparkled. I have not finished the roll of film that's in it yet, but will shortly...guess I will know then.

-- jwoodson (jwoodson@pdq.net), April 05, 2001.